This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/crocon to TrainWeb.US/crocon.
President-Elect Barack Obama has selected Republican Illinois Congressman Ray LaHood as his Transportation Secretary. LaHood is known as a "moderate" Republican who has "broken with his party on Amtrak funding," which means that he has genearally voted in favor of Amtrak funding when others in his party have voted against it. In 2005, he told the <i>Peoria Journal-Star</i> that "we've got a good Amtrak system in Illinois and I don't think we want to destroy it by talking about privatization... The subsidies need to continue. These subsidies are the lifeblood of Amtrak continuing the kind of service they have to the college towns and the small communities in illinois and around the country. I don't see us really tinkering with that." It's also worth mentioning that LaHood is one of the congressmen who's been getting on UP and BNSF's case about railroad-caused delays to Amtrak trains. Quite admirably LaHood has voted YES on increasing Amtrak funding. <i>(Reference: Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act; Bill HR6003; June 11, 2008)</I>
But the record on LaHood, albeit thin, is mixed. For example, a quick search of Google brings up these tidbits of information:
LaHood said he considers Amtrak "the lifeblood transportation for
small communities," and he knows many college students from Chicago’s
suburbs use trains to travel to school, Copley News Service reported via The
Lincoln Courier.
"On the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is fabulous," LaHood added, "and
after 9-11, it became the transportation of choice for a lot of people because
they felt it was safer than flying.
"I think if we’re going to have a pot of money where we subsidize
airlines and we subsidize the funding of highways, that we certainly ought to
continue to subsidize Amtrak," LaHood said.
He said, "I don’t think we can afford at this point, with the kind
of deficits we’re running," to be talking about high-speed rail.
While funding is his main concern, he said, "People in rural Illinois are
not for high-speed rail... They do not want a train traveling 120, 125, 150
miles per hour through the rural areas, and I support them on that."
So how do we read that? Rebuilding America's infrastructure is said to be Obama's number one priority for getting the American economy moving again. Will LaHood be a champion for rebuilding our rail infrastructure, both passenger and freight? Will he vigorously push for building high speed rail corridors and even even dedicated passenger rail lines throughout the country or even in densely populated corridors. Are these dubious statements about protecting small communities from high speed rail merely the cautious words of a politician from Peoria?
For years passenger rail proponents have been fighting the good fight just to keep Amtrak merely sustainable in the face of Bush era policies to bury the railroad altogether. While we succeeded at that quite remarkably we must not be content with band-aid efforts to just keep Amtrak limping along. We want visionary policies from our leaders and courageous bold steps to rebuild our national rail infrastructure, improve air quality, move people more efficiently, reduce congestion and totally reform our transportation priorities. The question we're facing will be, "Is Ray LaHood the guy to do this?"
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama will kick off his inaugural celebration on Jan. 17 ó the weekend before his swearing in as the country's 44th president ó by traveling on a train to the nation's capital. He and his family will start their daylong journey with an event in Philadelphia before boarding the train and picking up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family in Wilmington, Del. The president-elect and his group then will make a stop in Baltimore before making their way to Washington. Obama will take office Jan. 20.
The Washington Times is reporting that federal transportation leaders have announced that the government is seeking contractors to build a $30 billion to $40 billion high-speed rail line between Washington and New York that would be used exclusively by passenger trains. The proposed high-speed rail line will be able to reach the Big Apple in two hours compared with Acela's three hours. The line is the first of a series of nationwide high-speed passenger rail lines that the government is considering funding. Other rail lines would run the length of California and Florida, spread throughout the Midwest with a hub in Chicago, connect Portland, Ore., with Seattle, and run between major cities in Texas.
WASHINGTON – The National Railroad Passenger Corporation Board of Directors announced today that it has chosen Joseph Boardman, a nationally recognized transportation industry professional, to become president and chief executive officer of the company, effective November 26.
Boardman offers nearly 34 years of experience in the surface transportation industry at city, county, state, and federal government levels; most recently as the administrator at the Federal Railroad Administration.
“In an attempt to maintain the momentum at Amtrak, while finding a permanent CEO candidate, the board has appointed Mr. Boardman for one year, but will conduct a search in the coming months for a permanent CEO,” said Board Chairman Donna McLean. She added that “Amtrak is at a critical juncture and needs a vigorous management vision and ability to take advantage of this unique time. The board has unanimously chosen Mr. Boardman in this capacity because we have complete confidence that his depth of experience and leadership skills will allow Amtrak to maintain growth and implement the requirements of the recently enacted authorization legislation.”
“Joe Boardman knows the industry extremely well, but what makes him exceptionally qualified for the position is that he has the unique perspective of having known Amtrak as a customer and state partner, administrator, and has been involved with Amtrak, in one role or another, over the course of many years,” said board Vice Chair Hunter Biden. “Joe is the right person to help Amtrak during this important period,” he added.
Having served as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration since April 2005, Boardman was the Department of Transportation designee on the Amtrak board of directors. Prior to his tenure at FRA, he served as commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation beginning in July of 1997. There, Boardman led a transformation effort that better enabled the agency to respond to the challenges associated with an expanding global marketplace. In this capacity, Boardman was deeply involved in the operation of the large complement of Amtrak service in the state. In addition, he was chief operating officer of Progressive Transportation Service, Inc., a transportation management company. He was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board in 2005 and chair of the American Association of the State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Rail Transportation from 2000-2005.
“I am humbled that the board selected me to lead the company, on an interim basis, at this very exciting time. Over the past decade — in one capacity or another — I have been an active participant in the affairs of Amtrak. I have come to know the company, the culture, a number of employees, and I am keenly aware of the challenges facing us right now,” said Boardman. “In my view, a national intercity, interconnected passenger rail service is critically important for the mobility and energy independence of the United States.”
Joe Boardman fills the position following the departure of Alex Kummant earlier
this month. Chief Operating Officer William Crosbie served as acting CEO in
the interim. “The board is grateful to Bill Crosbie for his dedication
to Amtrak and for managing the company during the transition,” McLean
added.
Boardman is a lifelong resident of New York, and is the second of eight children born and raised on a dairy farm in Oneida County, which two of his siblings currently operate. In 1966, he volunteered for service in the United States Air Force, serving in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the Air Force, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and a Master of Science in Management Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He presently resides with his wife Joanne in Washington, D.C., and has three grown children.
WASHINGTON -- Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant, age 47, with a history of job changes
that rival the number of Amtrak station stops, resigned Nov. 14 after barely
two years on the job.
There were indications Kummant ran afoul of the Amtrak board of directors, which
names the Amtrak CEO without need of Senate confirmation, even though Amtrak
is owned by the federal government and receives a nearly $1 billion annual taxpayer
subsidy. No further details were provided regarding Kummant’s sudden departure,
which had been rumored for the past three weeks.
A source close to the Amtrak board, who asked not to be identified, speculated that Kummant "was not hands on. He didn't have a handle on finances or operations. His personality was often confrontational."
Kummant will be succeeded, on an interim basis, by Amtrak Chief Operating Officer William Crosbie, who is expected to run the national intercity rail passenger company until the Obama administration rejiggers the Amtrak board of directors. It will be the Amtrak board that will choose a permanent successor to Kummant.
Kummant was named Amtrak president in September 2006, after the Amtrak board dispatched David Gunn 10 months earlier. The railroad experience of Gunn’s two predecessors, Tom Downs and George Warrington, was limited to Northeast Corridor commuter operations, but Gunn had extensive freight and passenger operating experience, dating to early management days on the Santa Fe.
Kummant had no railroad operating experience, but did have a short stint as a Union Pacific marketing officer.
Amtrak’s presidents:
Roger Lewis, 1971-1974
Paul Reistrup, 1974-1978
Alan Boyd, 1978-1982
W. Graham Claytor, 1982-1993
Thomas Downs, 1993-1998
George Warrington, 1998-2002
David Gunn, 2002-2005
David Hughes, 2005-2006 (interim)
Alexander Kummant, 2006-2008
The first Amtrak authorization bill since 1997 passed the U.S. Senate by a large margin, 74 - 24. The bill would provide $13 billion for Amtrak over five years.
Senator John McCain voted NO on the measure. Senator Barack Obama voted YES.
The legislation will "substantially change our federal policy toward passenger rail travel," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said. President Bush had threatened to veto a previous Amtrak funding bill earlier this year but the overwhelming margin in both chambers is large enough to overcome a veto. The legislation authorizes $2.5 billion a year for Amtrak, almost double its current federal funding level. The money would cover operating and capital expenses, including equipment purchases and railroad repairs. About $1.4 billion would help pay down Amtrak's more than $3 billion in debt. About $1.9 billion would fund a matching-grant program to encourage states to invest in rail expansion and repair. The legislation also contains provisions designed to make Amtrak's management more accountable, such as financial reporting standard, and improve rail safety standards with "new" technology.
The bill requires a technology known as positive train control, or PTC, on passenger trains and certain hazmat rail main lines by 2015. The technology automatically stops trains that run a stop signal and has been used on portions of the Northeast Corridor where Amtrak owns the rail lines. Most rail experts would agree that the Sept. 12 train crash in California that killed 25 people would probably have been avoided had this technology been in operation. In addition, the bill would cap worker shifts at 12 hours and would mandate 10-hour rest periods for train crews and signal employees.
Authorization bills are NOT appropriations, however, and this means that future sessions of Congress must approve budget appropriations each year to actually provide the funding levels in this authorization bill.
SENATE ROLL CALL VOTE: Yea = Pro Amtrak. Nea = Anti-Amtrak
Alphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), Yea Alexander (R-TN), Yea Allard (R-CO), Nay Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Baucus (D-MT), Yea Bayh (D-IN), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Yea Biden (D-DE), Not Voting Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Bond (R-MO), Nay Boxer (D-CA), Yea Brown (D-OH), Yea Brownback (R-KS), Nay Bunning (R-KY), Nay Burr (R-NC), Nay Byrd (D-WV), Yea Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Cardin (D-MD), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Clinton (D-NY), Yea Coburn (R-OK), Nay Cochran (R-MS), Yea Coleman (R-MN), Yea Collins (R-ME), Yea Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Craig (R-ID), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Yea DeMint (R-SC), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Yea Dole (R-NC), Yea |
Domenici (R-NM), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea Durbin (D-IL), Yea Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Feingold (D-WI), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Graham (R-SC), Nay Grassley (R-IA), Yea Gregg (R-NH), Nay Hagel (R-NE), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea Levin (D-MI), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea Martinez (R-FL), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Yea |
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea Reed (D-RI), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Salazar (D-CO), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay Smith (R-OR), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea Stevens (R-AK), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Nay Tester (D-MT), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay Vitter (R-LA), Nay Voinovich (R-OH), Nay Warner (R-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea |
President George W. Bush is expected to sign the Amtrak authorization bill
that passed both houses of Congress. The legislation calls for higher levels
of funding for Amtrak and other passenger-rail services, setting up a broader
debate next year over federal transportation spending that highlights differences
between the two major candidates seeking to succeed President Bush, who in the
past has proposed zeroing out Amtrak.
The White House announcement came Thursday, after the Senate approved the bill
by a 74-24 vote. The House passed it last week by a wide margin.
The number of riders on Amtrak, commuter rail and rapid-transit services has soared this year along with gasoline prices, leading Congress to increase federal support. The shift to rail and away from cars will also affect next year's debate on transportation spending. Currently, the federal government spends more than $40 billion annually on highways, roughly $10 billion on mass transit and about $1.4 billion on Amtrak.
The debate over how federal funds are allocated will take place with a new president in the White House. The Amtrak vote offered a preview of how John McCain and Barack Obama would approach the issues relating to America's own infrastructure, transportation and environment.
Senator McCain, the Republican nominee, has been a consistent and leading critic
of Amtrak and voted against the funding. Senator Obama, the Democratic candidate
who has consistently supported an expansion of passenger rail service, voted
for it.
After casting his vote Wednesday Senator Obama, in keeping with his broader
calls to invest in roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure, said:
"American businesses and families deserve to have safe, reliable and efficient
transportation options," he said. "For far too long, our nation's
lack of investment in too many aspects of our infrastructure has undermined
that important goal."
In addition, several Democratic leaders say concerns over congestion, pollution
and oil consumption should lead to greater spending on passenger-rail service.
"We spend more than $40 billion each year on highways...but only a little
over $1 billion on rail, and we had to fight tooth and nail to get that,"
said Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. "This is going to change."
Both houses, defying the anti-Amtrak obstinacy of the Bush administration, have passed five-year appropriations for the passenger railroad ($15 billion in the House, $11.4 billion in the Senate) which represent not only a substantial increase in funding but a long-term commitment that would allow Amtrak to invest in all the heavy, expensive stuff — both fixed and rolling — required to make a railroad run. The bills are being reconciled by House and Senate conferees, but passage seems certain.
However, appropriations are NOT allocations. Future sessions of Congress would have to actually allocate these funds in each of the five fiscal year budgets. In the past Congress has not always followed through on appropriations.
The crises in highway and air transportation have sent Amtrak ridership soaring, and this year — with a projected 28 million riders — promises to be Amtrak's biggest yet, up 2 million from the year before.
Where Amtrak owns its own rails, train schedules are much more reliable. In the Northeast Corridor, for example, trains are on schedule 76 per cent of the time, while the "Texas Eagle," for most of its route at the mercy of the freight-hauling Union Pacific Railroad, has been in the last year on schedule only 17 per cent of the time. The new appropriation bill makes a feint at this crucial barrier to efficient rail travel by putting investment into easing congestion in 18 of the most-crowded rail corridors. On time performance has been a huge problem for Amtrak and generally speaking the ridership public is unaware of the obstacles that both the aging infrastructure and the private freight railroads present to Amtrak trains.
In every other urban, industrial nation, having a well-rounded passenger transportation
system of roads, airways and rails is seen as a no-brainer. The meltdowns at
the gas pump and the airport terminal might have finally pushed the reluctant
U.S. Congress to pick up its long-overdue responsibilities toward efficient
passenger rail.
WASHINGTON – Though he has been rebuffed the last three years by Congress,
President Bush is again seeking major cuts in funding for Amtrak. Bush’s
budget proposal for 2009, which he sent to Congress this week, calls for $800
million for the beleaguered passenger rail service – a 40 percent cut
from last year. The proposal now faces a new round of stiff resistance from
many in Congress and passenger rail supporters. The cuts would cripple Amtrak.
The 2009 proposed funding level is “inadequate to operate national passenger
rail service as it is currently configured,” Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black
said. Amtrak has lost $480 million per year the last several years, Black said.
In 2006, Congress ignored the administration’s request to cut all of Amtrak’s
government funding. And key lawmakers say they plan to again ignore Bush’s
request. In the House, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the transportation committee
chairman, will introduce a separate bill to boost Amtrak’s funding above
requested levels, committee spokeswoman Mary Kerry said. “The traveling
public has embraced passenger rail service as an alternative to high gas prices
and airline delays, and that has made Amtrak a critical player in the nation’s
multimodal transportation system,” Oberstar said in a statement.
Most of the money in Bush’s proposal would go to maintaining tracks,
trains and signals. The budget also calls for Amtrak to become more efficient,
requiring Amtrak to reduce financial losses by focusing more on services that
make money.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said the company plans to submit its own budget
proposal to Congress later this month.
The U.S. Senate has passed the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) on a 70-22 vote. The bill authorizes Amtrak and establishes teh first federal matching program for states' intercity passenger rail investments. Work on a companion House bill is now underway.
WASHINGTON -- Amtrak said Friday (Jan. 11) it planned to resume negotiations
with nine unions this week to avoid a crippling strike, the Associated Press
reported.
The national passenger railroad could face a walkout as early as Jan. 30 unless
it reaches an agreement with the unions or Congress intervenes. There has never
been a strike at Amtrak, and both Amtrak and union officials say they don't
believe it will come to that.
If it did occur, a strike would hamper the operations of many commuter lines that rely on Amtrak infrastructure. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said talks would resume next week.
"There is some sense of optimism that we'll come to an agreement and avoid a strike," Black said. "Neither side appears to be interested in a shutdown of any portion of the railroad."
The talks affect about 10,000 Amtrak employees, who have been working under outdated contracts since 2000. Under the Railway Labor Act, the workers could not strike until federal officials determined that mediation had been unsuccessful.An emergency board appointed by President Bush help resolve the dispute sided with the unions on several issues, recommending in a Dec. 30 report that Amtrak provide full back pay to compensate the workers for eight years without a raise and scrap plans for sweeping changes in work rules.
Now the parties are in a 30-day cooling-off period. When it ends Jan. 30, the unions will have the legal right to strike if Congress doesn't step in. In most disputes under the Railway Labor Act that reach this stage, the emergency board report serves as the basis for an agreement.
The unions were pleased with the report, and told Amtrak following its release that they were eager to return to the table.
Amtrak, which depends heavily on federal subsidies, is concerned about how it would afford the back wages, which would average nearly $13,000 per employee. The railroad had offered to give each worker a lump signing bonus of $4,500 instead of back pay.
Black said the back pay would cost Amtrak about $150 million more than what the company had offered.
(The preceding article by Sarah Karush was published January 11, 1008, by the Associated Press.)